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Biggles and the Lost Sovereigns/plot
Chapter 1: A Tragedy Recalled As Biggles would say, he dislikes anything to do with gold but Air Commodore Raymond needs to send him to look for some. One Captain Macdonald, skipper of the Alora, a trading coaster which plied the Mergui Archipelago had come across a canoe with a dead Salone sea gypsy in it. He had a chain of 20 gold sovereigns strung around his neck and it appeared that he had been shot dead. The sovereigns came from a large batch of 20,000 which had been sent to Singapore in the 1940s. Just before Singapore fell to the Japanese in 1942, the gold had been loaded on board a British yacht the Vagabond. The ship sailed for Calcutta but was never seen again. The chain on the dead Salone showed that the yacht must have reached the Mergui islands and the gold must still be there. Chapter 2: Captain MacDonald Speaks His Mind Biggles flies out with Ginger and Bertie in the Gadfly and finds Captain MacDonald at Victoria Point. MacDonald is bad-tempered and doesn't want to help. He had handed over the gold sovereigns to the British authorities and not only had they not compensated him, they had kept him entirely in the dark about the whole affair. Biggles is apologetic and offers to raise a storm with the authorities. MacDonald calms down and Biggles discusses his mission. Going over the facts of MacDonald's discovery of the Salone, Biggles learns that one Feng, a Filipino pearl buyer had been on board the Alora. He had in fact wanted to buy over the sovereigns. As they would be operating far from suitable airfields, Biggles consults MacDonald about setting up depots of fuel and supplies for the Gadfly. MacDonald suggests two locations: Chang Island to the south and Kampong Island to the north. Biggles, on MacDonald's advice, hires a local man Chintoo as an interpreter and guide. Chapter 3: Hog Island Biggles and co. head for Hog Island, the island nearest to where MacDonald had spotted the dead Salone, and set up base camp there. Chapter 4: The First Survey Th next day, Biggles and co. search the coastline of Hog Island and discover nothing. The Gadfly runs aground in some mud and the inevitable encounter with crocodiles is inserted in this incident. Chapter 5: An Unpleasant Visitor They spend the next 10 days searching the nearby islands without success. Then the officious Captain Yomas of the Burmese coast patrol turns up in his cutter. He demands if Biggles has permits for all and sundry, from the guns and cameras he is carrying to the hiring of Chintoo. As Biggles knows only too well, Yomas is actually only angling for a bribe. Biggles refuses and sends him packing but knows that he can therefore expect trouble from him in the future. Having searched the entire vicinity, Biggles and co. depart for Chang Island where they hope to find one of Macdonald's supply depots already set up. Chapter 6: Ginger Has a Fright There is no sign of Macdonald's supplies at Chang Island but Ginger does discover a pile of seashells. Among them he finds a gold sovereign! The dead salone must have passed through here but such sea gypsies wandered from island to island so the Vagabond could be somewhere else. Going inland to fetch water from a spring, Ginger gets a fright when he discovers a tiger's pawprint in the mud. Chapter 6: More Problems The next morning, over breakfast, Ginger thinks he sees the face of a Chinese man looking at them from the jungle. Biggles, Ginger and Bertie decide to go fetch some more water and study the tiger paw print again. In the jungle they hear a cry. Ginger and Bertie head back to camp with the water. They hear another cry and reach the beach in time to see a Chinese man try to cut their aircraft free. Bertie fires his shotgun at him as he runs off into the jungle. The man had also knocked Chintoo on the head and had dragged their tent over the campfire. Chapter 7: Bertie Gets Tough They had earlier seen a junk on the other side of the island and Chintoo's attacker might have been a member of the crew. They see the junk sail away but can't be sure it has not left anyone behind to cause further mischief. Bertie and Ginger decide to scout the island on foot. They reach another beach and see two Chinese men, one trying to dig shot gun pellets out from the back of another. Bertie forces the two men to board their boat and orders them to leave the island. On their way back to camp, they find a tiger's paw on a stick, probably used by the Chinese men to attempt to frighten them away. Chapter 8: Another Clue A storm grounds them and forces them to ride out the rain in their tent. After the weather improves, Ginger continues scouting and this time discovers a life buoy with the name Vaga, obviously from the Vagabond. They are making progress! Chapter 9: More Visitors The next morning they spot a native kabang making for Chang Island. The junk is also coming back, heading as though to cut off the smaller craft. The kabang reaches the beach first. It's Laon, Macdonald's bosun. He reports that Yomas has locked up Macdonald in a police cell at Mergui on a charge of smuggling. Just before this, Yomas had been seen with Feng. Biggles surmises that Feng must be in league with Yomas and both are after the sovereigns. Yomas must have arrested Macdonald to cut Biggles' supply line and prevent him from finding the gold before Feng. As if to confirm this, Feng now lands from the junk. He comes to ask what Biggles is doing on the island but his expression when he sees the Vagabond life bouy gives the game away--he knows about the yacht and the gold it carried! Chapter 10: What Happened at Mergui Biggles and co. head for Mergui to help Macdonald. At the post office, Biggles learns that that Yomas had told the clerk not to send on Macdonald's telegram requesting help from the shipowners. There remains therefore no other option but to break Macdonald out from jail. Using a mixture of threats and bribes, Biggles succeeds in getting the local policeman to release his prisoner. Macdonald taks his ship out and heads for Penang. Biggles takes on some stores from the Alora and decides to wait for daylight before heading for Kampong Island. Macdonald has already set up a depot there and it would make a good base. Chapter 11: Yomas Tries Again Before leaving they meet the group of Salones who have conveyed Laon to Chang Island. Biggles takes the opportunity to ask if they know of any wrecks of wooden ships among the islands. They tell him there are wrecks on Kampong and Shark Islands. But they should avoid Shark Island because there is a mad man there who shoots at anyone who lands. This interests Biggles because the Salone who found the sovereigns had been shot. Shortly thereafter they spot Yomas' cutter making an unexpected return to Mergui. Biggles executes a hasty takeoff. The cutter shoots at them with a machine gun but misses. They make it to Kampong Island safely and find Macdonald's supply depot. Chapter 12: The Mystery Man Biggles, Ginger and Bertie explore the island for the wreck but find that it contains only rotting hides. Returning to camp, they are surprised to hear the Gadfly's engines start up. Someone is stealing the aircraft! They run back and manage to get on board in time. They try to restrain the intruder but he breaks free and runs into the jungle, chased by Chintoo. Chintoo comes back to say he didn't catch the man but he had found his boat and holed it. Chintoo is certain the man is Japanese. Moreover the man knew karate and Biggles finds a Japanese revolver in the cockpit. Chapter 13: The Big Question It is obvious the mystery Japanese man mmust have paddled over from Shark Island only a mile away. Biggles decides to shift camp there to look for the wreck. The man would not be able to go back to harass them because he couldn't use his boat anymore. Scouting the new island, Ginger finds another pile of shells and some more gold sovereigns. More puzzling, he finds a bag which had probably been used to contain the coins--it was made of aeroplane fabric. Biggles surmises that the mad man must have been a Japanese pilot who had crashed during the war and had lived on the island through the year. A further search reveals the Vagabond among some rocks. It contains wooden bullion crates but they are empty! The Japanese pilot must have taken it. They see smoke inland and, heading for it, find the airman's camp, made largely of pieces of aircraft wrecakge. Under a makeshift bed, Biggles finds the gold sovereigns all tied up in bags made of aeroplane fabric. They grab some bags and head back to the Gadfly. There'a a problem: Yomas' cutter is heading for Kampong Island. Chapter 14: The Last Round It would not take long for Yomas to discover that they are not on Kampong. He would head for Shark next. Biggles sends the rest back to fetch the remaining gold while he stows the cargo and makes ready for take off. The cutter is soon heading for them. Bertie, Ginger and Chintoo make it back with the last of the coins only just in time. Biggles makes yet another hasty takeoff, just clearing the approaching boat. The Gadfly makes it back to Singapore where the coins are coins are handed to the British embassy. Macdonald is there with his ship and they say goodbye to him, Laon and Chintoo. Biggles makes a report of a castaway to the Japanese authorities and then heads on home. Category:Plot summaries